British expats unite against aviation tax

A new campaign against aviation fuel tax has been launched for the people who suffer it most- UK expats.

According to the campaigners UK expats pay the highest air tax in the whole of Europe when flying themselves, and their family members out to their various expat destinations.

Now a group of people, including some big names from the tourism and travel industry who believe that air tax is too high, have united to create Fair Tax on Flying.

Fair Tax on Flying want the UK government to abandon its planned increase on aviation tax. The UK Government currently has plans to increase revenue by around £1.4 billion by 2015. Fair Tax onflying have noted that since 1994 the tax has been raised by 2600 percent.

A survey conducted for the Association of British Travel Agents has revealed that the majority of the British public, 63 percent, are already dismayed at the level of air tax they perceive to be too high already.

Chief executive of the ABTA, Mark Tanzer, said: “Air passenger numbers have decreased by 22% since 2007 when the tax was last increased, and increasing it yet further will cause significant strain on hard pressed budgets and hamper the UK economy’s growth.”

British Airways chief executive Keith Williams added: “We recognise the exceptional difficulty of the country’s fiscal position and we are content to pay our fair share. But the UK airline industry is already the most heavily taxed in the world and any further tax burden will be counterproductive to the country’s economic recovery.”